Sunday, May 25, 2008

The Florida revival - 'real deal' or demonic deception?

Like some of you have probably seen, I've seen some articles online about the 'Lakeland Revival' happening in Florida. Prior to this, I'd not really heard of Todd Bentley. Some of the articles I'd read are not very flattering, but on the other hand if this IS a 'move of God' and people are really being healed, then I didn't want to write against it. Mostly what I've done is to pray for discernment and that if it is a demonic deception, that God make that clear to me and more importantly to those of His children that are in the middle of it. I live on the other side of the country from where this 'revival' is going on, and I don't have God.tv; so except for reading a few articles I've mostly ignored it.

Since one of the main topics of this blog is spiritual warfare, and discernment and demonic activity very much relate to spiritual warfare, I decided to post what I've come up with. My answer to the question posed in the title is: demonic deception. Over a year ago, close to 2 years ago perhaps, I subscribed to the email list for 'Extreme Prophetic' with Patricia King. I'd seen some of her video's on her website and some of them had some good info. (She's more lately turned almost exclusively to the 'glory' and manifestations of this 'glory' -- and the word that came to mind when I prayed for discernment about that was 'sorcery'; but otherwise I'll leave it at that.)

On May 20 I received an email from XPMedia with the title:
Revival is for YOU and it is for NOW! Grab Hold of the Spirit of Revival and Bring it to Your Region!
I thought that was kind of interesting and sort of creepy & scary at the same time. So, I sent an email quoting part of the email as follows:
On Tue, May 20, 2008 at 8:52 AM, EXTREME PROPHETIC - XPMEDIA <patriciakinginjesus...> wrote:
<In addition to the powerful presence of God, and all the miracles, there are two things that really jump out about the revival going on in Lakeland. The first is that the Spirit of Revival moving there is so impartable. Everyone who comes back from Lakeland feels the Lord has told them to give it away, give it away, give it away! The second thing that jumps out is that it seems to be God's plan for this to be a revival that spreads!>
I have a question, if we have the Holy Spirit, why do we need a 'Spirit of Revival' ?? Is this one of the gifts of the Spirit? The fact that this 'spirit' is 'so impartable' makes my discernment antennae go up. Are they 'giving it away' with or without the gospel being preached? Is it for believers only, or are non-believers receiving this 'spirit' too?

I am in prayer about it, and hope it's for real, but there's a creepiness about it that gives me pause.


Here's the response I received, from Ruth Ripley at xpmedia:

Well, the spirit of revival is just an igniting of our spirits to get out there and do the “stuff”………it’s not like a 'real spirit' whereas the HOLY SPIRIT is actually real.

How's that for a non-response?

The following article is what finally convinced me that this 'move' is a demonic deception, below is a pivotal quote from an article: Todd Bentley Imports Anti-Christ Spirit
Based on the Holy Bible, Todd Bentley could not be imparting the Holy Spirit of GOD, since one human cannot impart the Holy Spirit to another, nor anoint one with the Holy Spirit. It shows in the Holy Bible, however, that one can impart demons. In Revelation 16:

12 Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, so that the way of the kings from the east might be prepared. 13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. 14 For they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.

As I thought and thought about why on earth Todd Bentley would blow on people when he does this impartation…this verse soon came to mind. What on earth is in Todd Bentley that he not only wants to touch you to give it to you, but needs to blow it on you, too? My guess is that unclean spirits have possessed Todd Bentley and are spreading themselves among the willing. What on earth could all of those convulsions be about. Does Todd Bentley want us to believe that when the Holy Spirit manifests, He makes you shake your head from side to side, swing your arms wildly and fall backwards seemingly unconscious? [Might I also mention the uncontrollable laughter, twitching; literally behaving like an animal and making strange, guttural sounds?]

In addition, here some more good articles here: click on 'what's new' and then the link for The Florida 'Revival'.

The ones I'd recommend are 'Warning about watching 'revival' videos' by Joseph Urban; as well as 'Most 'contagious' anointing' by Andrew Strom.

Addition to post Wed May 28, 2008

Apparently Todd Bentley claims to have visitations from 'angels'; most notably one called Emma O and another one related to the Florida Revival is called Winds of Change .
The most important question would be: are these angels of God? Or demonic spirits? I haven't done a thorough study of the Bible in relation to angels, but from what I've gathered they are NOT called upon by us to increase our finances or to do healing. If, in response to a prayer to our Heavenly Father, He sends an angel on an assignment, or to communicate a message, that's all well and good.

So I wanted to share the following passage of scripture that appears to me to relate to this issue.

Col 2:18 Let no one defraud you by acting as an umpire {and} declaring you unworthy {and} disqualifying you for the prize, insisting on self-abasement and worship of angels, taking his stand on visions [he claims] he has seen, vainly puffed up by his sensuous notions {and} inflated by his unspiritual thoughts {and} fleshly conceit, [From the Amplified Bible ]

Friday, May 16, 2008

Destined to Reign - Grace has a name!

I previously wrote about reading a book called Destined to Reign by pastor Joseph Prince. Due to previous mental programming, I thought that maybe the title was a little presumptuous. But that's o.k., because He is faithful to show the way, one step at a time. And, it's also scriptural --
Rom 5:17 KJVA
(17) For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; [meaning Adam] much
more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness
shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)
and closely following that verse:
Rom 5:21 KJVA
(21) That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

As I was reading the book, I came to page 149 where it discusses Romans 8:1, where the KJV says:
Rom 8:1 KJVA
(1) There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

So many (including myself) have come to the understanding that IF you walk after the Spirit, there is no condemnation; but IF you walk after the flesh, there IS condemnation. When I was growing up, my 1st step-mother would either threaten or proclaim that some 'wrong' action had put you on her 'shit-list'. Some days, it didn't take much more than having a pulse to put you there - seriously! So my view of God was somewhat colored by that, wondering if I was on or off that list. How wonderful to begin to glimpse the Truth of His grace.
In addition to e-Sword (electronic Bible); I have a print copy of the King James version and an NASB, as well as a Lamsa translation and the Jewish New Testament translation by David H. Stern. So before I finished reading pg 149 in Destined to Reign, I jumped up and got my NASB Bible and read that it says:
Rom 8:1 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ
Jesus.
[period]

Then I turned the page, and see that on pg 150 Joseph Prince has the NASB translation there, too. Wow, that's amazing, was what I thought. Now I know there's some controversy about the different translations, and there's the 'King James only' crowd, so take a look at this
discussion about that, in relation to this passage, if you'd like.

In case you're wondering, here's a couple of other translations:

There is therefore no condemnation to them who walk in the flesh after the
Spirit of Jesus Christ. (Romans 8:1 - Lamsa translation)

And in the Jewish New Testament it reads:
Therefore there is no longer any condemnation awaiting those who are in union
with the Messiah Yeshua.

As I was pondering this insight, the Spirit had me look up the following passage, in effect He's confirming the NASB (and similar) translations:
Joh 3:17-18 KJVA
(17) For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
(18) He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
Notice it says 'He [or in my case she] that believeth on him is not condemned:...' with no qualifiers! (in verse 3:10 it says: "Jesus answered and said unto him..." and then it goes on. So if you have a 'red letter' Bible, John 3:17 and 18 are written in red!) So what Paul wrote to the Romans was and is in agreement with the words that Jesus himself spoke, and there is no higher authority!

As Joseph Prince says (I've watched some of his YouTube videos) - Hallelujah!
Knowing that goes a long way toward being relieved of the fear of condemnation, as a believer. It'll be a process to fully grasp the understanding and being able to rest in His finished work, and of course EFT can help in that process. More to come!




Monday, May 5, 2008

For we are fearfully and wonderfully made

I just ran across this video and thought it was great -- so I wanted to share it.